The hardships caused by the economic blockade on highways leading to Manipur are spilling over to neighbouring states. Landlocked Mizoram and Tripura are facing fuel scarcity a week after the Centre directed Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to send fuel tankers to Manipur’s capital Imphal and delay deliveries to other northeastern states, as reported by NDTV.
As hundreds of fuel-carrying trucks remain stranded, the BJP has blamed the Congress-run government in Manipur for the ongoing troubles in the state.
The Centre has provided security forces to the Manipur government in time and it is up to the state government to use force or hold dialogue to resolve the crisis. But the Manipur Chief Minister is playing politics over the issue and wants the deadlock to continue for political gains.
Ram Madhav, BJP General Secretary
After the Centre’s request to send fuel tankers to Imphal, Indian Oil Corporation had to make operational changes in its supply arrangements. This could perhaps be the reason for the shortage of cooking fuel, petrol, diesel in Manipur and Tripura.
The petrol tankers are not coming from Assam regularly and there is a shortage of petrol, the present situation in Manipur has led to the crisis.
Bhanulal Saha, Food and Supplies Minister, Tripura
Admittance of Switchover
Indian Oil has admitted to the change in supply arrangements in the states.
We had to make operational changes. We had to bring back loaded fuel tankers and send them via Jiribam to Imphal and empty tankers were diverted from Tinsukia to the Guwahati loading terminal, thereby delaying fuel tankers going from the Guwahati terminal to Mizoram and Tripura. But it will be sorted within this week.
Kailash Kumar Handique, Deputy GM, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Guwahati
In Tripura and Mizoram, long lines of vehicles can be found at petrol pumps and people have been facing difficulty in obtaining LPG cylinders. Indian Oil has said that things will return to normal within this week.
Source: The Quint
